Marla's Music

Marla Maddox...someone I met a couple of week's ago when Katie, Tim & I practiced in Ft. Wayne at her dad's church. Marla is a friend of Katie's from IWU (Indiana Wesleyan), and since her dad was sick, she was there to open the church and help us set up.

While we were talking & getting ready, she started playing her guitar. Wow! She's great! Come to find out, Marla is quite the musician, and it runs in her family. But...back to her music. Katie was telling us about her songs so she sang one for us. I instantly fell in love with it - the message is powerful!

Marla's posted her music to a website. If you're interested in hearing it, click here. My favorite song is "I Found Life" (listen to it more than once to hear the message).

Another 2 Hour Delay

There's nothing I love better than the sound of my phone ringing a little before six in the morning (unless it's not Traci's name on my caller ID). Why, you ask? Well...that means we have a delay, and I love delays! :-)

Such a phone call happened this morning and could possibly happen the next two mornings (there's supposed to be fog tomorrow morning & freezing rain Wednesday morning). Ahhh...the advantages of being a teacher! :-)

Speaking of being a teacher, just wanted to update you on the levy & my job situation. I found out the end of last week that I made it safely through the initial round of cuts, but if the levy doesn't pass in March, they are planning on cutting 3 music teachers (I only have 2 below me so I would be the third). Please join me in praying for God's will to be done and for His guidance as I'm traveling this road.

Snow Day = Day #4

Although this only leaves us with one calamity day left, I was really hoping for a day off today. :-) And...we got it. During the night we got several inches of snow along with some freezing rain/ice, and as if that wasn't enough, it's also very windy causing the snow to drift. I love snow days!

Updates

I lost another 1.6 pounds this week. Although I was hoping for a little more, I'm still very excited because that brings me to 12.6 for my 3 week total. I won't complain about that.

And just so you know...we did end up having school yesterday (didn't get the predicted snow), but we did have a 2 hour delay due to the low windchills. As I always say...you gotta love a 2 hour delay! :-) The weathermen are predicting another big storm (4-8 in. of snow with wind) to come in after midnight tonight. I'm hoping for a day off tomorrow. If I get it, I'll be sure to let you know. :-)

Exercising

Well...so far so good. I started to get back on track with my exercise last week (I'm thinking my Weight Watcher week which begins on Fridays...just so you know). I went to the gym both Monday & Tuesday - that was when I nearly killed myself. :-) But...this week has been much better (both in the number of days & how I'm feeling) because I went to the gym Friday, Saturday, Monday and tonight (which is Tuesday). I'm also planning on going tomorrow after school (if we have it...supposed to be getting some bad weather). Five out of seven days is pretty good. Hopefully it'll start showing on the scales as well. :-)

Update

Yesterday I went to the gym and made sure to keep my workout at the moderate level. It amazed me the difference. Instead of feeling like I was killing myself, I actually felt good! My only problem...I was up at 6:00 a.m. this morning! And keep in mind...today is SATURDAY!

Weight Watcher Update

I lost 2.4 pounds this week bringing my total to 11 pounds. I'm very happy with that, and it hasn't been too bad. My only "struggle" has been with exercise so I asked about it tonight. Believe it or not...I've been working out too hard. My leader said that the target heart range for fat burning is in the middle rather than at the top. I've been really pushing myself to get my heart rate at the top (cardiovascular level) thinking I was doing more good. But according to her, you actually burn less fat at that level.

So...I'm going to try that this week and see if that solves my problems. I'll keep you all updated. :-)

Kitchen Catastrophe

The term "catastrophe" may be a bit strong, but it was a night when I'd have been better off not cooking. :-) Are you ready for this?

The evening began around 9:00 p.m. when I began to make my appetizers for my meetings today (everyone was supposed to bring one or two). I decided to do sweet & sour weenies (a favorite in my family) but take a healthy spin on it. So...I paid a little more to get turkey hotdogs and skinless, low cal sausage and began to cut it up. My plan was to put all of the ingredients in a Ziploc bag (hey Jane...can't imagine why I thought of you!). :-) After the meat was in the bag, I added the mustard & grape jelly. Then I had the bright idea to zip the bag & mix everything up so it was ready to go. All was going well until the bag opened, and over a cup of the mixture spilled out onto my carpeted kitchen floor. What a mess!

So...at 9:30 p.m. I'm in my kitchen spot cleaning the floor with my little shampooer. It took a bit but appeared to be working (although I'll have to do something else because now that it's dry you can see each spot where the jelly fell). After I was finished, I had to clean the machine and finish my original job. I transferred the meat into a different bag, sealed it tightly, and then put it in the fridge.

Then it was on to my second appetizer - a creamy taco dip. I had planned ahead and set the cream cheese out so it was soft. I was so proud of myself! :-) So...I cream the cheese until it's smooth, and the parsley flakes, and then prepared to add the taco seasoning. As I went to open it, I noticed that there was a lot of it at the top so I tapped it a few times to try & knock it down in the package (something I've done before & always saw my mom doing while growing up). However, things didn't go quite as planned. On the third "tap", the center of the package opened sending taco seasoning flying through the air. It went everywhere! And if you've used it before, you know that it's a bit moist...not necessarily dry. So...it was in my hair, all over my face, and clumped on my glasses. I could barely see out of my right lens. I'm telling you...it was EVERYWHERE!

At this point, it was after 10:00 p.m., and I was in no mood so I finished my dip and called it a night. I'll clean it up later!

Snow in the Carolinas

On Thursday, my family woke up to see something they aren't used to...snow. Mom was so excited because she misses snow (although she doesn't miss the cold). Harrison was also very excited to go out and play in it, but they were getting freezing rain so Marsha told him he had to wait until it stopped raining. You can imagine how difficult this was for him. So...Marsha being the great mom that she is went outside & brought in a bowl full of snow for Harrison to play with. :-) He loved it until his hands became too cold.

Here's a picture of Harrison & Abigail outside with the snow.

Our All-Day Practice

This morning I was at Tim & Pam's house a little after 8:30 a.m. because Tim & I were headed to Ft. Wayne. Since we took the month of December off, Katie, Tim & I haven't sung together since the last Sunday of November, and we have our first concert of 2008 next weekend.

So...Ft. Wayne is nearly 1/2 way for us so the plan was to meet there and practice. Marla (one of Katie's friends) met us at her church (her dad's the pastor), and they let us use their building. We unloaded some of our equipment...set up...practiced for a couple hours...took a lunch break...practiced a couple more hours...tore down...loaded up the car...then made the trip back.

In all honesty, it was a great day. I really enjoy singing - especially with Tim & Katie so it was great to get together & spend a day like today doing what we like. It was very relaxing!